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Wynton in the new Spike Lee film about Katrina

Entitled: When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee’s emotionally haunting two-night chronicle of Hurricane Katrina is a documentary masterpiece, unfolding over four hours tonight and at 9 p.m. Tuesday. Deftly mixing news footage of the harrowing devastation as tragic events unfolded late last August and early September, Lee adds an unforgettably rich human tapestry of witness interviews.
Wynton offers a brief history of the city’s culture and the special way music is embedded in the fabric of New Orleans life.

The film is structured in four acts, each dealing with a different aspect of the events that preceded and followed Katrina’s catastrophic passage through New Orleans. Acts I and II premiere on HBO tonight, Monday, August 21 at 9pm (ET/PT), followed by Acts III and IV on Tuesday, August 22 at 9pm. All four acts will be seen Tuesday, Aug. 29 (8:00 p.m.-midnight), the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

I just finished watching this documentary and while not surprised at the lack of progress in the rebuilding efforts, I can not believe the amount of depraved indifference that has been shown towards the survivors by our federal government. Utterly shameful! I like how Lee’s documentary was about the people. The words were unscripted. The stories are from those who witnessed firsthand what exactly happened and what was not reported. As always, Terrance Blanchard’s score played beautifully amidst the backdrop of this gut wrenching replay of one the worst disasters to occur in this country.